Q & A with Van Ling, Rick McCallum, Richard Dean, Pablo Helman, Jon Shenk and George Lucas

Click here to learn more about anamorphic widescreen!

Site created 12/15/97.

page created: 9/11/01

Q & A with Van Ling, Rick McCallum,
Richard Dean, Pablo Helman,
Jon Shenk and George Lucas

back to Episode I index

The following is a transcript of a Q & A session held at the Skywalker Ranch on Friday, September 7th, with Lucasfilm's Jim Ward as moderator. About 30 members of the press were involved, including Digital Bits editor Bill Hunt. The featured participants in the session included Van Ling (the Episode I DVD producer), Rick McCallum (the film's producer), Richard Dean (principal engineer on the DVD for THX), Pablo Helman (the ILM visual effects supervisor who completed the deleted scenes for the DVD), Jon Shenk (director of The Beginning documentary) and George Lucas himself.

The transcript itself was provided by Lucasfilm, and can be difficult to follow. Whenever possible, I've cleaned up a lot of errors and mistakes using my own tape recording of the event. Just bear that in mind as you read it.

Jim Ward: Okay... so let's get this thing going. We're really going to kind of go through, as I mentioned, the ensemble cast that was put together to create this great DVD. And the first person up is a gentleman by the name of Van Ling, who I'm sure is very familiar to most of you. Van was the producer on the Episode I - The Phantom Menace DVD. We wanted to get the best and the brightest to work on this and Van certainly is the leader in the field and that's who we got. So Van can answer questions about production of the DVD, the menu design, the authoring, the compression - all that sort of thing Van can talk to you about.

Lucasfilm's Jim Ward and DVD producer Van Ling

Question: When did you come on the project and what was the process in terms of putting this disc together?

Van Ling: I came on the project in about October of 2000. I was asked to come in and do a proposal on the disc. And with great trepidation, but a lot of enthusiasm, I came on the project and I really wanted to do a good job. I've been a big Star Wars fan for most of my teen and adult life, so it was quite a dream come true.

Question: How much of the footage in the DVD menus was custom generated and how much was existing DVD footage?

Van Ling: It was about half and half. But I have to stress that all of the material started off as material that was provided by Lucasfilm and by Industrial Light & Magic. I was able to take photographs and basically extrude them into 3-D to generate some menus, so that the images were of actual footage in a number of cases. And in other cases, we used material straight from the transfer of the film and then worked away to make it longer. And then in some other cases we did generate things entirely from scratch. But we really tried to maintain the look and feel of the Star Wars universe.

Question: What other DVDs have you worked on and how does this disc differ from those?

Van Ling: Well, I produced and did the menus for the Terminator 2: The Ultimate Edition, The Abyss: Special Edition and the Independence Day: Special Edition. And this, in terms of approach and design challenge, was far and away the most challenging disc that I've undertaken. It was also, in many cases, the smoothest disc I've undertaken, because I had the filmmaking side really behind the project. In a lot of cases, the filmmaker is off working on other movies - they're not able to really participate more than just cursorily approving the disc. And in this particular instance, everybody really took the time to be there and be part of it and be in on the decision-making process. So it was never a question of my thinking, "Are they going to like this?" In this particular instance, everybody was really involved and that's one of the things that made this far and away different from other discs that I've done. Also, on those other discs, I was able to actually work on the production of those films at that time. So those projects had a different approach. Here, I had the benefit of the entire team at Lucasfilm and at THX to provide me with all the materials that we needed to make a great disc.

Question: How conscious were you of setting a new standard in terms of technology and entertainment value on this DVD?

Van Ling: I try to take the same approach that most filmmakers do on that kind of question, which that is we try not to be conscious of it at all. What we're conscious of is trying to create the vision or to put together the vision or to, in this particular case for me, maintain the vision of the Star Wars universe. And whatever it takes to do that is what we try to do. And oftentimes that does involve being on the cutting edge or straying into territory that hasn't been really explored before in terms of the technology.

Jim Ward: The adjunct to that, I might add, is that very early on we sat down with Van and we made it very clear, we're not out there trying to just do technology for technology's sake. We were very much into let's make what we think is the best thing for our fans and for the consumer out there, so let's not load this with wacky stuff that nobody ever uses or goofy technology and interactive games and all this kind of stuff. Let's just do what we think is cool and what we think the fans will like. And Van definitely led us down that path very well.

Van Ling: The key is to take care of the movie first - that's the most important thing about the disc. You know, as much as we all love doing the bonus materials, we want to take care of the movie first. And everything builds around that.

Question: What kind of input did you have in terms of the vision of the disc?

Van Ling: I think, coming into this, a lot of the previous discs that I'd done have been, whether or not correctly so, have been formally called "Van Ling discs" because they have a particular kind of approach. And I was very adamant on this disc, as is correct, to make sure that this was never perceived as a "Van Ling disc". This is a Star Wars disc, and this is a Lucasfilm disc. And the most important thing there is to make sure that it doesn't overshadow any of the content and the quality of the presentation. So that was one of my most important personal goals on the disc, was to make sure that when people look at it they think this is a Star Wars disc - this is exactly what we want from a Star Wars disc. And from that standpoint, it was a matter of reviewing the materials that Lucasfilm and George and Rick and everybody wanted to put on the disc, and working with them to create the best presentation that maintained it as a Star Wars disc. I tried my best to kind of be "behind-the-scenes" as their producer, as their consultant on the project and never get in the way of the vision.

Question: Was any of this material on the DVD remnant from the laserdisc, or was this all created ground up from the beginning?

Van Ling: From the Japanese laserdisc are we talking about? From the VCD? No, we didn't use anything from the VCD.

Follow-up Question: I'm taking this question from a member of our community who is obviously a collector and they're referring to the laserdisc version that is out there as a supreme, high-standard audio sound and so forth, but…

Van Ling: The Japanese laserdisc, that's the only laserdisc that's been available for the show. No, we didn't take anything from that. We started from scratch with the high-definition transfer and all sorts of things. Nothing came from the laserdisc that we used.

Question: On some DVDs you can spot the special effects, I believe because of the digital nature of the DVD and the way it was transferred. Did it seem to be this way for Episode I? How did you handle this?

Van Ling: I let ILM's work shine. I didn't have to do anything in that particular instance because the transfer that was done was perfect. If you do your effects right, as ILM does, you don't have that problem. What you're referring to is that sometimes, like with older films with optical effects, you'll see in the video transfer that the matte lines will appear, or other artifacts that say, "This is a special effects shot". Well, that's how seamless ILM's work is. It's phenomenal work and so there wasn't any problem with that.

Question: In essence, what was the process in which the transfer was made and what source material was used for DVD?

Van Ling: There was a very conscious decision to go from the print rather than from the digital files. And I think part of that is that this is a film, and we wanted to maintain the spirit. This is part of the style of colors and look that we wanted to maintain with the picture. And we didn't want it to feel like perhaps A Bug's Life, or something where it has that kind of digital edge to it, which works great for those movies. But we wanted to really say, "This is a film".

Question: Given the bit budget on the disc - the amount of disc space available - were there any materials that didn't unfortunately make it onto the disc?

Van Ling: The answer to that question is always yes. There's hundreds of hours of material that as a film geek and a completist I would love to see on the disc, but that's not really what the process is about. Like making a film, you don't put in all your dailies. What you do is you hone it down to the things that are most effective, most entertaining and that you think people are going to enjoy and are going to watch. And so that's kind of what we concentrated on. But we jam packed the disc - it is filled to the brim.

Jim Ward: Van did a great job in guiding us, quite honestly, because we were the ones that really wanted to explore the boundaries of that. And Van was very good with us on the bit budgets and explaining to us, "Well, if we do this, this is the consequence, etc." So we had to make some tough decisions and there are a number of EPKs and other things that we had to cut back on. One of you guys mentioned yesterday those other "tone poems", there is a lot of that kind of thing that just couldn't go on and we did have to make some harsh choices.

Question: I just wondered, in the deleted scenes section, George Lucas talks about the "air taxi" scene, that actually looked so good, he put it back into the film that's on the DVD. First of all, was that something that you were involved, that process? And are there other scenes that are added to the film as well?

Jim Ward: I'm going to take that one. Van wasn't involved in that and that scene was reincorporated. And as I said, I think you all have to get your check discs and go check it out for yourself.

Question: Did you ever consider using the digital prints that were made, since you used that to showcase the film in four cities?

Van Ling: Basically, we considered it, but we decided we actually wanted to go with the film print because it gave us the look that we were looking for.

Question: Were the deleted scenes done just digitally, on video, or were they finished in film and then transferred to video?

Van Ling: Absolutely, they were finished on film. All 300 of those shots were finished on film and put together for the DVD.

Question: What are you most impressed with on the disc? What's your favorite part?

Van Ling: That I'm still standing. Because this was probably the most challenging disc I've ever done. And probably one of the most satisfying. I'm really proud of the way the whole disc came together as an integral whole. That's one of the most important things that we were all striving for - that it felt like it wasn't just a collection of odds and ends, which unfortunately, a lot of what people call "special editions" today seem to be. They tend to just be a lot of materials that were collected and thrown on a disc. We really tried to make it an integral experience. And the other thing I'm most proud of is that we were able to work together to do that. As I said earlier, sometimes you're out there alone as a DVD producer doing stuff, and other times the studios or the filmmakers can tend to be very limiting. And that was absolutely not the case here.

Question: How much time did you spend on this disc? Was it a full-time job?

Van Ling: Let's just say that they paid me for about half my work. (laughs) Because it was a heck of a lot for a full-time job. It was a lifestyle, actually.

Jim Ward: Thanks a lot, Van.

Okay... the next person I'd like to bring up here and introduce is somebody that if you didn't know before you came here, you certainly know him by now after having lived through his saga in helping to create the Episode I - The Phantom Menace. I'd like to introduce Rick McCallum, the producer. So this is the guy that produced the film and certainly lived through not only the film but this DVD as well. Any questions for Rick?

Ward and Star Wars producer Rick McCallum

Question: How do you think you came off in the documentary?

Rick McCallum: That's why I have a fast forward, I just skipped over it. It was very interesting to see how much weight I've gained and lost throughout the whole production. (laughter) That was the most interesting thing to me.

Follow-up Question: You were very direct, for instance when the situation was very grim in Tunisia, you said things colorfully. Did you have any concerns about including this? Or did you not care?

Rick McCallum: No, not really. I mean it's a very weird thing, especially when there's a documentary crew around. It's not easy for me to be totally natural around it. But you know, after awhile you get kind of used to it. But no, there's never any real issue because in the end of the day, we knew the guys who were making the film and they were all pretty trustworthy so it wasn't too bad. I was just glad that they weren't there for about 90% of the time... (laughs)

Follow-up Question: Well, I had to laugh because since you cuss so much in the documentary, are you concerned about the young kids that will be watching that?

Jim Ward: No, I think we bleeped it out.

Rick McCallum: Well... I think most kids these days know what that is. Everything I've learned is from my kids.

Question: As far as the DVD, are you excited about all the extras? But as a filmmaker you work so hard on the episode that, what about the DVD itself?

Rick McCallum: There are two big issues for me. One of the things that was very difficult was that we virtually were making the film right up until three weeks before the film was released. In fact, we were in London shooting six weeks before the film came out. Then we had to supervise the making of five thousand prints. Plus, if you backstep, for ten weeks we had been working on the digital master for the four theatres that we had shown in New York and Los Angeles. So we were just burned out. There was nothing for us to do. The film came out, we had three days where we rushed around to New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco watching the openings, and then virtually that following Monday, George and I started prep on Episode II. The thing that we knew that we didn't want to do for the DVD was just take the typical route where there's a video master out there for the videocassette, and then somebody takes that, throws it down, and lays it out on the DVD. Then you have fifteen minutes of how great it is working with George and isn't Rick nice and his hair is weird and all the other strange stuff that you get on it. We wanted to make it special. But that that takes a long time.

I set up the DVD before I went to Australia. We worked on it for six months. We had to cast for a crew. We had to wait for the supervisors, we wanted Pablo as our chief digital effects supervisor on the DVD. He was on another film. We had to get the artists that we wanted that were available. We had to face the whole reality of was it possible to actually even do this? We wanted Van Ling. You know there's a whole bunch of real things, it was like making another movie. And you've got to remember that up until Episode I, the largest film digital effects-wise was Titanic. And that had about 450 shots. We had just under 2100 visual effects. And this DVD represents, I think it has the third most effects of any feature film that's ever been made. So you know it was a really complicated process and it was very time consuming, we knew it was going to take a long time. But I think it was worth it.

You know we loved it, we loved the whole idea of it. And more importantly for me personally, is that at least within the context of DVD, it's really about quality. There's nothing more frustrating than, in the case of Episode I, which was a process that lasted over four years, you spend so much time making it, then you spend so much time mixing it - millions of dollars. And then you let it out to the world and you know there's probably less than 100 theatres where you can actually see the film that we actually made, or hear it in the way we've mixed it. And DVD, believe it or not, still represents probably, in terms of the audience - the largest possible audience, the best visual experience that they'll ever actually see the film. Because most of the stuff, when you go to a multiplex outside of a major city, is just junk. So on those two levels, I was very happy.

Question: Is there any particular scene in making the movie Episode I that was challenging to you?

Rick McCallum: They're all painful in their own little way when you think back. But no, I personally like locations the most because you never know exactly what's going to happen. And to me, that dynamic is very exciting, especially when you're dealing with the temperatures that we had in Tunisia. Tunisia is a country I personally like. I love the crew that we had, we shot there before on Young Indy. They're all difficult in their own little way because you've got this army, and it's like a small village. And one day an actor will get hurt in a car accident, another person will get sick, you know everything is all outside, you never know what's going to happen. Studio work is much easier - you just know what you've got. Usually everybody can get home and get back to work relatively easily. So I think probably, I haven't answered that question but I like locations the best.

Question: Who was really the target audience for Episode I?

Rick McCallum: Well, you've got to remember it's a saga. It's a saga of family, it's also going to be in six parts. It's designed to be seamlessly interconnected. In fact, in terms of DVD, it's what Van Ling was saying, one of the reasons why we didn't go straight from the digital master is that you know there have been three previous films, and they were films, and there's a look. And as he also mentioned in terms of relationship to Bug's Life and some of the other Pixar films is there are two different aesthetics. Personally, for me, and this is going way off the question, the digital release of the film that we had in four theatres came closest to the film that we actually made, because it was the only time that we could be in a theatre and actually see the film and hear it that closely resembled what it was that we had made. But the issue about whether or not it's for kids, you just have to take a deep breath and wait for the whole thing, because it all makes sense. It has to start somewhere, and there is a reason why Anakin is eight years old in Episode I. And when it's all over, it will all make sense, both thematically and in terms of the evolution of Anakin's character.

Question: Why isn't there a DTS track on the DVD? Was there just not enough room on the disc?

Jim Ward: I'll just take that question. It really comes down to what you exactly said. It was a bit budget issue and that's one of the hard decisions that we had to make on this thing. You know, in an ideal world yeah, but we just had to, to include everything we wanted to do, make that call.

Question: Can you talk about doing the audio commentary? Sometimes filmmakers are reluctant to do commentaries, but you got everybody, yourself, George, everyone involved in the making of the film to sit down and watch and give your observations. I was wondering what that was like?

Rick McCallum: Well, for me personally it was very weird because I was in London, and I had to do it on a tie-line and so it was very uncomfortable for me. I didn't have enough time to actually sit back and really think about all the scenes because we were in the middle of shooting for Episode II. But I think everybody else really got into it. They really enjoyed it because, in the end of the day, it allows you to do two things. It helps you, if you're honest with it, you remember the pain of actually doing it. And then also what it meant in context and how you got through it. And I think everybody was candid enough, you know people like Dennis Muren and John Knowles and everybody else who was working on the film for such a long period, it gave them an opportunity to actually reflect back on their experiences, what it was like to actually do that specific shot. Because that's the whole dynamic, especially the world that we're moving into, whether you're making a small, traditional dramatic film or a big special effects film, there's so many effects shots. And for the first time, we're breaking the barrier of visual effects companies where we're actually working as a team. Because they're two totally different, distinct groups. You know when you're making a movie, it's a totally different experience than when you're working on the special effects. Different kind of skill set, different kind of person altogether. But I think what was one of the best experiences for me on Episode I is it was a total collective dream and nightmare for a long period of time for a lot of people.

Question: You mentioned that making the DVD was like making a movie, another movie. Can you talk about how much it cost to put the DVD together? What kind of investment you guys have in it?

Rick McCallum: It cost (laughter), that's something, you know... does it matter?

Question: I think it's interesting.

Rick McCallum: Let's put it this way, it cost a lot, it took a lot of effort, a lot of time…

Question: How many Kevin Smith movies could you make? (laughter)

Rick McCallum: Well, it depends. Based on his last one? (laughs) It cost a lot.

Question: What do you think of the DVD technology itself?

Rick McCallum: Well right now, within the world that we live in, there's nothing that comes close. I mean, the thing I love about it is its potential, especially when we deal with storage issues because, as Van Ling said, right now we're dealing with a storage problem. And you do have to pick what you think is best to include, and that's what I think he did a brilliant job of. One of the many things that Van Ling did was focus us and say, "Okay... yes I know you think this is interesting but I think for the general audience this is the best thing. I think there's enough stuff here for hard core fans, for filmmakers, for everyone else." He really balanced that out for us really nicely. But what I do love about it, is its future potential to be able to go in directions where you do have the access and the ability to be able to store a phenomenal amounts of material. So that people who are into making films, could have 20 or 30 hours of material. I don't know if Jim has mentioned this, but we probably shot about 600 hours worth of behind-the-scenes footage. Not that that would all work, but you know there's a good 2 or 3 hours about how to design costumes. There's 2 or 3 hours about setting up and budgeting a movie, scheduling a movie. Unfortunately, right now with the limits that we have, we can't use all that material. But there is that material and one day... in fact, it's one of my worst nightmares that I'm going to get the call from George saying, "You know, I've got a really good idea. Let's put out a 250 hour DVD."

I don't know if you guys have seen Terminator 2. One of the things I loved about that and what Van Ling did, you can go in many directions. If you were a hard core film freak and you really love Cameron and you want to understand how he made the picture, you could go in that direction. There are so many areas where you can go and that to me is really the essence of DVD technology. But what I love about it, more than anything, is just the sheer quality for the average person.

Question: In the world of digital technology and DVDs and such, is there really any such thing as a final cut to a movie?

Rick McCallum: Philosophically, I have no problem with it. In fact, I love it because what's always prevented any filmmaker from doing this in the past is just the cost. We all love movies here. And think about it. There are 300 movies made by the studios a year, and there's another 700 made by independents. And for us, probably in this room, we easily see two or three movies a week. And we love them. And it's one of the few things in the world where you can go, week after week after week, and be so deeply disappointed and still, every new week, say, "Hey... let's go to a movie." And that becomes still another adventure, another hope that the movie is going to be good. And the truth is, nobody ever sits down at a table and says, "Hey - let's make a bad movie." No producer, director, writer says, "God, I've got a really great idea for a shitty film." It doesn't work that way. But something in the process, something about the compromises, the timing, the studio, the phenomenal pressure that artists have to go through, causes something to go really wrong.

And often there is this other film there. Not always, but often there is another film. And if somebody can actually have the wherewithal, the tools to be able to actually change that, it doesn't mean necessarily that you're going to like it any better or that you're even going to see it. But it's no different than a writer being able to re-write and re-write, or a painter who used to paint. You know, when the Impressionists used to paint on a canvas, they didn't have enough canvas so they'd just paint over and keep on changing. It's like rehearsing a play. But that's never been done in film before because of the sheer cost. And one of the great things about doing the Special Editions was we were able to go back and do the original Star Wars: A New Hope exactly the way George wanted it. The way he had written it. Whether people liked it, it didn't matter, it was his movie and he couldn't make it when he first made it because there were so many compromises he had to go through. So, philosophically, I have no problem with that I think it's great. It's like the Internet. You kind of democratize the process, you have these incredible tools to allow everybody to make a movie. It doesn't mean the movies are going to get any better. In fact, there's going to be a lot of shit on the Internet for a long time. But it does allow people who aren't socially adaptable or don't have the skill set to be able to enter into the system of Hollywood, who have great ideas but may not have the personality to sell themselves but actually are full of ideas and can tell a story, that allows them to be able to do that.

Jim Ward: Okay, that's great. Thanks a lot, Rick.

Next up is a gentleman named Pablo Helman, who comes from Industrial Light & Magic. Pablo was the Visual Effects Supervisor on all of the newly created scenes that appear on the DVD. So Pablo, where are you? There you are. I couldn't even see you before. Okay, so this is the guy to talk to about the process of putting together all these new scenes.

ILM effects supervisor Pablo Helman

Question: How many people worked on the DVD and how long did the process take?

Pablo Helman: I think we had a crew of about 100 people, actually over 100 people. And it took between six and eight months.

Question: How did the process compare from doing a film versus the DVD to create these scenes?

Pablo Helman: Well, the process was pretty much the same. At ILM, we take pride in every frame that we create, every pixel. So the process was basically the same - taking a look at the old content we needed to put together into 300 or so new shots. And taking a look at every one and all the history of Star Wars and the Star Wars universe. And again, we had to create the scenes so that they would cut right into the film if they needed to. It was pretty hard work but it paid off.

Question: Did you take it to film? Or just stayed on digital?

Pablo Helman: No, everything was delivered on film.

Question: In the world of Star Wars, what is a "deleted scene", and in essence what did you have to do to actually create these scenes?

Pablo Helman: Well, all these scenes that you're going to see on the DVD were at some point in part of the film, but were cut out. There were over 300 shots. And many of them weren't finished - they were bits of scenes and parts of completed shots. And I basically sat down one night with a glass of wine and took a look at the videotape of them. And as the videotape kept going, I was pouring more wine and more wine because the idea of producing all these really quickly, you know six to eight months, it was something that we had to think about. Again, you know when it comes to content, everything that was in that videotape was at some point in the movie. And it was deleted or not produced for a specific reason at the time.

Jim Ward: Pablo, what state were those scenes in? They were basically blue screen, right? So you had to go and…

Pablo Helman: Yeah, the majority of it was blue screen, and a lot of it was a lot of sketchwork, you know artwork - basically pencil drawings.

Jim Ward: So when you say it was in the film, it literally was a placeholder in the film?

Pablo Helman: Yeah. Well yeah but in terms of content it was at some point it was part of the film, somebody, obviously George, had thought this is what I want in my film. In terms of how we went about filling all that blue screen and all those blanks, we had a huge library of elements and things already shot. And there was a history of Star Wars, so there was really very little leeway to go wrong. And some things we shot, elements we shot. A lot of it was CG. And some things that we couldn't do before for different reasons. For instance the waterfall scene - at the time they were doing Episode I, it was very costly to do. There was a lot of R&D in that. And by the time that they were working the DVD, basically the whole facility was working on water because there were a lot of water projects going on. So waterfalls were a perfect way for us to develop that technology and put it to use.

Question: Did you do any other work beyond the deleted scenes?

Pablo Helman: Yeah, we did the outtakes too. Those were a lot of fun too.

Question: One of the things I think is exciting to see on the DVD is the animatic footage. Can you talk about what the previsualization process like and what happens?

Pablo Helman: Well, at some point George has an idea and he communicates that idea to somebody. And then that person puts together, it's basically a dialogue between the Art Department and the Director, in which the Director says something and the Art Department says here, this is what you want. And then the Director says well yes/no. When you're doing animatics, you're not thinking about how you're actually going to finish a shot. You're just basically brainstorming up your own ideas on paper or videotape or CD or whatever your medium will be. After that, from a visual effects point of view, I see animatics all the time. When we're working, it's a great tool for planning a shot, because it's a lot easier for, especially for artists who are very subjective minded - I mean everything is very, very subjective. It's a lot easier to say, "Here... do this, match this" than to say, "I have this idea - this is a waterfall right here that I want it to go down." So from that sense it was great.

I do have to say that George gave us a lot of freedom from those animatics, that were very ambitious and varied, but very, very open. We had the leeway to solve the problems in terms of content. For instance, in the podrace, when I remember looking at the animatic, there was something in the podrace, in that extra lap that we did in which Anakin loses the cable, and I mean it took me about three or four viewings to realize what that was. You know it's like, "There's something there, what do you think? Well, I think it's a cable. Well where does that come from?" Well we actually didn't ask George those questions, because you don't sit down with George to ask, "What did you mean, is that a cable there?" So we had to basically solve all those problems. So animatics are very crude and it's a very open way to present a visual effects problem.

Jim Ward: And just so you understand, the process at Lucasfilm is that there is a previsualization team that's separate from Industrial Light & Magic led by a guy named David Dozoretz. And basically, George works with him to develop the animatics, previsualization of the film and then that's what ILM tees off of in terms of understanding what the action sequence is going to be.

Question: How were the deleted scenes selected to be edited back into the film?

Jim Ward: The deleted scenes were selected by George. And in terms of the reintroduction, you saw the air taxi sequence scene. That made sense to him after seeing it completed and he reincorporated that into the film.

Question: In the deleted scenes that you did, is there anything that's special to you? Or is there a small bit that you're most proud of?

Pablo Helman: The waterfall sequence is great. The podrace sequence is great when you think about the technical hurdles that we had to go through. The taxi sequence was great because it allowed us to take a tour of Coruscant in a way that we hadn't seen before, and prepared us for future stories about the city.

Jim Ward: Why don't you tell them the story you told me about the computer?

Pablo Helman: Well, there is a scene before the podrace where we introduced all these different podracers that we didn't have a chance to see in Episode I. When we took a look at the animatic, there was basically a still of Ben Quadinaros, who is a character that never completes the podrace in the actual film because his engine explodes. So taking a look at the animatic and trying to figure out (just like with the cable), what that shot was going to look like, we though, well we can put Ben Quadinaros we have a CG character which is zooming to him and that'll be it. And then some of us thought well wait a minute, he never finishes the race, because his engine explodes. Why don't we have him over there reading the manual, right before the race? He's reading a manual and you know he just stops and just throws the manual away. And so we made that and we completed the shot and then here we go six months later, we were talking to George throughout all these meetings but we never told him exactly the content of this establishing shot. So here we go, I'm meeting with George, playing the tape and showing him these short cuts, and he sees the manual and then he stops the tape and says, "You know, you did something wrong here." And I said, "What did we do?" He said, "In the Star Wars universe, there are no books. So, go ahead and put a laptop in." So that kind of exchange with George in terms of what the Star Wars universe is, and what kind of backstories there are in Star Wars, is a great opportunity that not many people have a chance to benefit from.

Jim Ward: That's great, thanks a lot, we appreciate it.

Okay, the next person we'd like to have up here is Rick Dean, who is the Supervising Engineer on the entire THX certification process. So for all those technical questions I couldn't answer for you guys yesterday, this is the man.

Van Ling and THX's Rick Dean

Question: Did you use a digital master for the DVD?

Rick Dean: A video master was created for the VHS. This was the same source material that was used for the digital release as well. We simply went back to that grand master and ensured that it was cleaned up and ready for DVD. One of the differences between DVD and VHS of course is you've got much more detail on the DVD format. So we did pay extra attention, but the same source material was used.

Question: What is the average video bit rate on this?

Rick Dean: The bit rate is really a measure more of the type of content that's throughout the movie. You know, compression is a matter of being efficient with the bits that you have to work with. And so with this type of title, it's a scene by scene process to make sure that every scene was replicated correctly using digital compression. So it was a tedious task to make sure. Actually, if you just say what the average bit rate is, it really doesn't measure what the quality of the movie is.

Question: Since THX was involved step by step with Lucasfilm on this project, will that foretell the future for THX?

Rick Dean: I think the program, as it started out with laserdisc, it was rumored that we were simply a looking over the shoulder process. Very much now, what we've done over the last two years and with DVD becoming such a heavy implement in the business now, is we're kind of much more of a post production service management group. And this is the first time that we've been able to really spread our wings and practice. Lucasfilm was very, very receptive to a lot of the things that we did. We had a lot of heavy consultation from Van Ling, the folks at ILM, the creative folks up here at the Ranch, and it was just a wonderful collaboration of effort.

Question: How did you decide to use Laser Pacific to do the disc?

Rick Dean: The technology that we implemented with this, and again I'll go with what was mentioned earlier, we did not develop technology because it's cool. We use the technology in the best way to tell the story here. And to bring the story out on DVD. Laser Pacific had certain experiences with high-definition 24 frame video, and because a lot of this post was done down in the Burbank/Hollywood area, they were the chosen facility for this.

Question: Were there any changes in the soundtrack in the Dolby Surround EX mix for home theater?

Rick Dean: No, there were not. We were very keen on keeping the original acoustic design of Episode I that was used in the theatre for the home as well.

Question: Is there any sacrifice having an EX mix on the DVD disc?

Rick Dean: Actually, part of the beauty of what EX does is it simply adds additional information that can be extracted in the rear surrounds. So really, you are hearing this content. Even if you don't have the EX system. What you won't do is you won't hear the added benefit of the rear channel. But this does not take any more bits. The surround channels are stereo in a 5.1 mix anyway. So this is just a more efficient use of that.

Question: What is THX's point of view on the placement of the dual-layer change on this disc?

Rick Dean: That's a very detailed selection. What you don't want to do is have areas of the movie that will have sustained music going between scenes or any dissolves, because inherent with DVD, there is going to be an interruption right at that point. So yes, this is a very often a difficult decision. At one point, it actually took quite a long time to come to agreement on.

Question: How long was the process for your involvement in the video compression?

Rick Dean: It's hard for me to even come to a number of days with that. After the movie was finally approved, we went right into this mode. Some of the best facilities that we knew of were selected for this, and I can say that the repeat of creating the movie was done again for the DVD. Certainly not a matter of years, but certainly a matter of a lot of time - a lot of hours working in small, dark rooms and as I'm sure most of you know. And one of the things that we focused on and were given the leverage to do is to actually question each and every decision. Rather than have this go through in a factory stance, we were able to go through and tweak things. And this often did not take more time. We were very efficient with the use of time, use of manpower, but applying the technologies that we've been developing for the last three years, and really putting them into practice with this. These facilities who do DVD titles every day of the year are now using a lot of these new techniques in their everyday work now too. So that's rewarding in itself.

Question: Is there an international education program to teach people about the benefits of THX?

Rick Dean: I think the most efficient way to do that is through our website. We are trying to come up with more of an education forum on this as well. There has been an unfortunate misconception that we have not even told our story as fully as we should as we've gone along. Again, we are not just a Quality Control system - it's more than that. So we're going to try to do a better job of that.

on to to page 2